I took a walk around the yard to see what our Spring showers brought us.
Bluebonnets
We have bluebonnets! Not in a place I expected, tucked up against the trees near the road, but maybe they will spread.
Ironweed
I have three ironweeds sprouting this year! These are in the meadow, and in a place we don’t mow. I only had two last year, but they grew chest height and bloomed purple.
Pumpkin sprouts
The surprise finding was the pumpkin vines poking out around the compost heap. Hm. It will be interesting to see how far they make it, as I don’t water over there and it doesn’t get that much sun. Here is for a pleasantly wet spring.
I caved. I’ve been seeing bands made by tablet weaving for years, but didn’t see why I should expend the effort. It makes a strip of fabric, a small thing, what’s the point? Curiosity got the better of me, and I found instructions here to get started without buying anything. I made my “tablet” or cards from old UNO cards (we have SO many different decks), which conveniently are already numbered.
Tablet weaving cards made from an UNO deck
I used thin yarn leftover from several projects and two chairs spaced a distance apart to make the warp threads, knotted the end, then threaded them through the cards according to the directions.
Half of the tablet cards threaded with warp yarn
I used the back-strap method of applying tension to the warp threads, which means I attached one end to my belt, and the other to a stationary object. I experimented with: my toe, a door knob, and my steering wheel (when parked). When not weaving I used a cable needle (like a giant safety pin) through one hole to hold the cards together.
Starting weaving
To change the shed (which threads are on top or bottom), you rotate the cards forward or backward. This is absolutely brilliant, and a kind of weaving I can totally get behind. The possibilities for patterns are immense, the weaving goes quickly, and is done in less time than on a wide piece or a picked pattern. I definitely had learning woes, I thought I was weaving too tight, but I was actually too loose, but it was a worthwhile experiment.
Done weaving.
The ripples in my band are because I wasn’t tight enough with my weave. I knotted the ends and cut off the extra warp, then ironed the band. It isn’t perfect, but I want to do more. (I do need a better way of keeping track which way I turn the cards. Squirrel.)
Ironed band showing both sides
I have also added an inkle loom to my wish list, which would enable me to keep tension on the work at all times and not have to go looking for a stationary object.
I went to check the trail cam and found morel mushrooms growing in our woods!
Morel mushroomThree more morel mushrooms
I did a triple verification of identity: I cut one in half length-wise to verify the inside was hollow, I put them on a dark colored sheet of paper to verify the spore was light in color, and I sent a picture to my Dad, who confirmed the identity.
Morel mushrooms are completely hollowSpore from a morel mushroom
Once identified, I washed the mushrooms and sliced them, then sautéed them in olive oil. I read that morels need to be cooked or risk stomach upset.
Sautéed morel mushrooms
To complete the meal I added eggs from our chickens to make a mushroom scramble. Breakfast was provided by items gathered from the yard, which is always neat.
I obtained a crochet pattern for a vest published in 1969 and decided I needed a duster version for an upcoming chorus show that is featuring 60s songs. I had some fingering weight cotton in my stash and I doubled it, combining three different blue colors with two different grays to get a fade on the garment.
Crocheted duster vest
It was a very easy pattern, just chains of 5 joining the previous row made of chains of 5 with a single crochet. I aimed to make it mid-calf length, but the net pattern now stretches nearly to the floor! It crocheted up fairly quick as well, because it is comprised mostly of air, which also makes it not hot to wear. Yay for netting.
Yup, it is definitely Spring. Everything outside is yellow with oak pollen and everyone’s allergies are on high alert.
“Pollen” written in pollen
The picture above is of my usually black metal bench that sits by my front door, under an overhang. It is currently dusty yellow from all the oak pollen, despite having some protection and not being directly under an oak tree. We have Post Oak and Cedar Elm in the yard. The Cedar Elm has already spread its confetti of seeds, so I guess it is now the oak’s turn.
Critters and Craft 